Pork Belly with Squid 'Krassado' Recipe

A beautiful Mediterranean dish full of bold flavours that taste like you're on holiday, the real work in this dish is making the pork belly, which needs to be cured, slow-cooked and pressed over several days in preparation for crisping up just before serving. Paired with an intense squid stew full of Greek/Cypriot flavours and a black squid ink mash, the dish is finished with pickled caper leaves – a speciality of Cypriot cuisine.

George uses an espuma gun to aerate the mash, but if you don't have one you can serve it without aerating too.

Ingredients

print recipe

shopping List

Metric

Imperial

Pork

500g of pork belly
300g of rock salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cloves, crushed
10 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 bunch of fresh thyme
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
500g of duck fat

Krassado

500g of squid, cleaned
2 tbsp of tomato purée, George uses Datterini tomato paste
500ml of red wine
300ml of white wine vinegar
500g of white chicken stock
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
200g of banana shallot, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and finely chopped (or you can use tinned plum tomatoes for ease, if preferred)
4 sprigs of lemon thyme
sea salt
fennel fronds, or coriander leaves, to garnish
pickled caper leaves, to garnish

Squid ink mash

1 squid ink sachet
250g of mashed potatoes
150g of semi-skimmed milk
20g of unsalted butter
sea salt
ground white pepper
3g of Sosa ProEspuma, Hot (optional)

print recipe

shopping List

The pork for this dish takes several days to make, so prepare accordingly. Mix together the salt, cinnamon, cloves, garlic, thyme and peppercorns, then use this to coat the pork belly, rubbing it in and ensuring the meat is completely covered. Place in a tray in the fridge and leave to cure for 6 hours, turning the meat every 2 hours to ensure an even cure

300g of rock salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cloves, crushed
10 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 bunch of fresh thyme
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
500g of pork belly

After 6 hours, preheat an oven to 85°C. Rub off the salt mixture and pat dry. Place in a deep pan and pour over enough duck fat to just cover the meat. Leave to cook for 6 hours (or ideally overnight) until very tender

500g of duck fat

Carefully lift the pork out of the duck fat and press between 2 baking trays with weights on top. Leave in the fridge to cool and set for several hours – you will finish off cooking the pork just before serving

For the krassado, score a criss-cross pattern into the squid and cut into bite-sized pieces. Preheat an oven to 170°C/gas mark 3 and place a large saucepan over a medium heat. Place the tomato paste onto a baking tray, drizzle over a little olive oil then place in the oven to cook and dry out for 15 minutes (ensure it doesn’t burn)

500g of squid, cleaned
2 tbsp of tomato purée, George uses Datterini tomato paste

Meanwhile, add a dash of olive oil to the saucepan and cook the shallots and garlic until sweet and lightly golden. Add the chopped tomatoes, thyme and spices, cook for a minute or 2, then drain any excess fat from the pan. Add the dried-out tomato paste and vinegar, then simmer for 30 minutes until the vinegar has heavily reduced into a glaze

200g of banana shallot, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and finely chopped (or you can use tinned plum tomatoes for ease, if preferred)
4 sprigs of lemon thyme
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
300ml of white wine vinegar

Add the squid, allow any excess water to evaporate, then add the wine and stock. Season, then bring to a gentle simmer and leave to cook until the squid is tender (around 1 hour)

500ml of red wine
500g of white chicken stock
sea salt

While the stew simmers, prepare the squid ink mash. Place the mashed potato, butter and milk in a saucepan and warm through, ensuring they are very well mixed. Season, then add enough squid ink to turn the mixture black. At this point, you can either serve the mash as is, or mix in the proespuma hot, pass the mixture through a sieve and charge in an espuma gun. Either way, keep warm until ready to serve

250g of mashed potatoes
20g of unsalted butter
150g of semi-skimmed milk
sea salt
ground white pepper
1 squid ink sachet
3g of Sosa ProEspuma, Hot (optional)

When ready to serve, cut the pressed pork belly into neat rectangles and render the fat from the skin in a hot pan. Flip the pork belly, then finish off the skin under a hot grill until very crisp. Meanwhile, ensure the squid ink mash is hot and the squid is very tender

To plate, place pieces of pork belly in the base of a bowl. Spoon the squid krassado around the pork belly pieces, then add spoonfuls of mash (or pipe the foam, if using an espuma gun) in between. Garnish with the pickled caper leaves and fennel fronds, then serve immediately

fennel fronds, or coriander leaves, to garnish
pickled caper leaves, to garnish

Discover more:

Share recipe

George Farrugia

After swapping a law degree for a career in the kitchen, George Farrugia's flavour-driven, eastern Med-inspired cooking has made him one of the UK's rising culinary stars.

Pork belly with squid 'krassado' and squid ink mash

Related recipes

Related recipes